Chapter One: The Veil Is Broken 

Amara’s POV

I woke up with a man’s arm around my waist, and I could not remember going to bed with him.

For a moment, I stayed still. My head hurt, my mouth was dry, and the curtains across the room were the wrong colour. Mine were blue. These were cream, with a narrow opening that let the morning light fall across a shirt on the floor.

I looked beneath the sheet, then pulled it against my chest.

Oh, Goddess.

The man beside me was asleep. Short black hair fell untidily over his forehead, and his hand rested against my stomach. I stared at it until a memory returned of those fingers closing around mine, his kisses trailing down my neck.

No. I shook the memory away. Now was not the time.

There was something else too, a voice I’d heard somewhere, but I could not remember what it said.

Yesterday was my twenty-first birthday. My mother arranged flowers, my father gave me a bracelet, and Rukaiya complained because I would not let her choose my dress. I remembered all of that. But I did not remember agreeing to leave the celebration with a man.

“Nia?” I called inside myself.

My wolf stirred, and relief almost made me close my eyes.

“What happened last night?”

“I couldn’t reach you.” Her voice was faint. “Amara, you need to get dressed.”

“I can see that.”

“No. You don't understand. The Veil is gone.”

I froze.

My fingers tightened in the sheet. I reached inward for the concealment I kept around her and found nothing where it should be.

I tried to gather it again. Usually, Nia drew back with me, allowing me to fold her presence beneath my own. This time, a sharp pain spread behind my eyes. The little strength I gathered slipped away before I could hold it.

The man moved, and I stopped breathing. His arm tightened briefly before relaxing again.

“Can he sense you?”

“If he wakes properly, yes.”

Everyone in my father’s pack believed I was wolfless. I spent years protecting that lie. Now I was lying beside a stranger with nothing between him and the truth except his sleep.

Carefully, I lifted his arm. I waited when his fingers moved, then slid away from him and climbed out of bed. My knees nearly gave out. I held the mattress until the room stopped tilting and looked for my clothes.

My pale blue dress lay beside an armchair. I put it on, struggling with the side fastening, then pulled my long golden-blonde hair free of the neckline. In the mirror, my blue-grey eyes looked frightened above a face that was much paler than usual. I turned away before I could start crying.

I needed my mother. I could worry about explaining this when I reached her.

One shoe lay beneath the chair. I bent to get it, and a scent reached me that made everything else briefly disappear. Cedarwood and black pepper. I breathed it in again before I could stop myself.

Nia lifted her head inside me and spoke. “Our mate.”

Okay. Another added problem.

I looked towards the bed again. The man lay on his side now, one hand resting where I slept. Morning light touched his bronze skin and the broad shoulders above the sheet. He was handsome, but that did not explain the ache spreading through my chest or why leaving him suddenly felt wrong.

“Are you sure?”

Nia’s answer came with such longing that my eyes burned.

“Yes. He's ours.”

“Ours.” I repeated.

For years, I wondered whether finding my mate would mean finally telling someone about us. Someone who would know everything and still want us. I never imagined being afraid to stay long enough to learn his name.

I took a step towards him, then looked down at the shoe in my hand. My thoughts were still confused. The Veil would not hold. Whatever he was to me, I could not let that make me careless.

“We need to leave,” I told Nia.

“Where are you going?” The voice came from the bed.

I straightened. His hazel eyes were open now, following me with an attention that made my grip tighten around the shoe.

“To my room.” I replied.

He looked at the space beside him, then at my dress. He sat up slowly and pressed two fingers against his temple. The movement was familiar enough to tell me I was not the only person with a headache.

“Who are you?”

“Amara.”

He drew a breath. His gaze sharpened, and a low growl rose in his chest before he caught it. Gold spread through his eyes, then faded again.

Of course, his wolf knew.

I waited for what happened next, hardly breathing. He looked just as shocked as I felt, but when he spoke, the softness I hoped for was missing.

“How did you get into this room?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Like I said. I don't know because I can't remember.” It was the truth.

He watched me for a few seconds. “What do you remember?”

“My birthday celebration. I felt unwell, and then…” I looked towards the bed and could not finish.

He followed my glance. His jaw tightened. Then he got up and he was naked.

I turned around immediately. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“I need to get dressed.”

I was facing the window now and I could see everything outside. I knew the fountain beneath the elm trees. I was still at home, in the wing my father reserved for important guests.

That should have reassured me. Instead, I wondered how I got past the guards.

Behind me, fabric rustled.

“You can turn back.”

He stood beside the bed in dark trousers, fastening his shirt. He was much taller than I expected. I followed the movement of his fingers for a moment before catching myself.

He noticed. And I hated that he did. I looked at the window again, annoyed that finding a mate apparently did nothing for my common sense.

“Tell me what you remember last night.”

“Several things. It was a party.”

“The last one you remember.”

I pressed my fingers against my forehead. Rukaiya stood beside a table in my memory, holding a glass. I could see her mouth moving, but I could not remember what she said.

“Water. My sister gave it to me because I felt hot.”

“Were you already dizzy?”

“I don’t know. Everything is mixed up.”

He walked into the sitting room, and I followed as far as the doorway. A glass stood beside a silver tray. He stopped in front of it without touching either.

“I had a drink after returning here,” he said. “I remember opening a report. I do not remember putting it down.”

He picked up his phone from another table and made a call.

“Dario. Come to my suite. Bring Soren with you.” He listened briefly. “Someone interfered with my drink. Keep the guest wing undisturbed, and I want the duty records before anyone changes them.”

He ended the call and turned towards me. “Did you put anything in that glass?”

“No.”

“Did anyone tell you to come here?”

“I didn’t agree to come here.” My voice shook, which made me angry. “I cannot explain what I don’t remember. If someone drugged you, then perhaps they drugged me too.”

He looked at my trembling hand, and I lowered it immediately.

“That is why I sent for the healer.”

That silenced me. At least he was willing to find out.

He took an unopened bottle from the sideboard, broke the seal and poured water into a clean glass. When he offered it, I hesitated.

“You watched me open it,” he said.

“I also accepted a drink last night.”

His gaze stayed on mine. Then he set the bottle and glass on the table within my reach and stepped away.

I waited a moment before picking up the water. My throat hurt enough that I drank most of it at once.

“Your full name,” he said.

“Amara Saye.”

He went still. “Idris’s daughter?”

“Yes.”

His eyes moved to the gold bracelet on my wrist. My father showed it to almost everyone before giving it to me. I wondered whether this man was one of them.

“I’ll send for him.”

“My mother too.”

He nodded and sent a message. While he looked down, I tried to listen beyond his words.

Reading a mind requires concentration. Usually, I could catch a thought if I focused on one person close to me. This morning, even that small effort hurt. With him, there was something else beneath the pain, a firm resistance I could not get through.

I withdrew before he lifted his head.

“Do you feel the bond?” he asked.

Nia moved towards him so eagerly that I nearly answered with her longing.

“Yes.”

He rested his phone on the table. “I have a fiancée.”

As soon as he said that. I noticed the second travel case beside the wardrobe. A cream scarf hung over its handle, and a woman’s perfume lingered near the bedroom door. Wonderful. I found my mate and his fiancée’s luggage on the same morning.

“All right.”

He looked at me closely. “That is all you have to say?”

“What else should I say?”

“You have just found your mate.”

“I also woke up in a room I don’t remember entering. I would like to understand that first.”

Something shifted in his expression. He looked away before I could decide what it meant.

“Celeste went to her parents last night. I need to speak to her before she hears about this from someone else.”

The certainty in his voice brought the memory of his voice back. This one is perfectly clear. Yesterday afternoon, I stopped outside my father’s study while carrying a book to the library.

[You will surrender any Unbound found in your territory]

My father answered carefully. [And if someone has committed no crime?]

[You know the law, Idris.]

Then my father used his name.

Thiago.

I set down the glass too quickly. Water spilled over my fingers.

The man looked at my hand. “Amara?”

Alpha Thiago Veyra? This is the man other Alphas lowered their voices around. My father’s warriors escorted his convoy to our gates, and the whole household prepared for his visit. I never got close enough to see his face properly at that time.

Now I knew exactly who slept beside me.

“You’re Alpha Thiago?”

“Yes.”

Nia reached for me, but I could barely feel her through the sudden fear. The man who wanted my kind surrendered was my mate, and the Veil was broken.

I tried to rebuild it. Pain struck behind my eyes, making me grip the edge of the table. For a second, Nia’s presence drew inward. Then it slipped free again.

Thiago stopped moving.

His nostrils flared. He looked at me with a different attention now, the type of attention that made me wish I never tried to hide anything in front of him.

“Are you going to faint?” he asked.

“No.”

I was not certain of that. I found my other shoe near the bedroom doorway and picked it up because I needed something to do with my hands.

“My mother will be looking for me.”

“She has been sent for.”

“Then I’ll meet her.”

I walked towards the door. If I could reach the family passage, I could find my father before this turned into something neither of us could escape. Nia drew close inside me, her longing replaced by alarm.

My fingers touched the handle, I was already opening the door. Then came his voice.

“You’re a forbidden wolf.”